The prime minister has signalled he intends to continue with the controversial "people's peers" appointments.

Tony Blair revealed his intentions on the day the government announced that a fully-appointed second chamber would remain its medium term policy.

In a written answer published on Thursday, Blair told MPs he had re-selected the chairman of the House of Lords Appointments Commission and its other members for another three years.

"I shall be inviting the commission to recommend a small number of non-party political peers, as well as reporting on the propriety of any party working peers who are recommended," he said.

The prime minister also praised the commission for finding "people of distinction whom it has recommended on merit".

The committee came in for heavy criticism when it announced the first group of peers including former Met police chief Sir Paul Condon, former head of the Commission for Racial Equality's Sir Herman Ouseley and Sir John Browne, group chief executive of BP.